It could be a supply boat with some long-awaited news from back home in Spain, or it might be a slave ship, or even an enemy man-of-war. (Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP Prior: Brother Andr Marie, M.I.C.M. There he graduated with distinction and after receiving the minor orders of the Church, determined to offer himself to the Society of Jesus (SJ) or popularly known as, the Jesuit Order. Too bad todays social experts werent around in the seventeenth century to help the slaves. Nor was the saint known to into ecstasies at the altar. . The dignified old man appeared, wearing a long white beard, and Claver, having been apprised of the customary signs of English protocol, saluted the prelate with much respect and offered a toast to his health. On September sixth, two Negroes carried Father Claver to the chapel where he received Holy Communion with the devotion of a seraph. He shortly afterwards heard the confession of Doa Isabella, and told her it was for the last time, and on September 6, after assisting at Mass and receiving holy communion, Claver said to his dear friend, Brother Nicholas Gonzalez, I am going to die. That same evening he was taken very ill and became comatose. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online Then he and his aides would distribute foods, biscuits, preserves, fruits, tobacco, liquors, and such like gifts to win their confidence and rouse them from their lethargy. 14-141). While he was studying philosophy at Majorca in 1605, Alphonsus . The following incident illustrates the struggle of the saint to overcome nature. Truer to his own biography, what might we learn from Claver . Claver was buried in the floor off the sacristy of the chapel of the Jesuit residence. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Community Redevelopment Agencies have proven historically to provide distressed communities with a better economy through improved infrastructure . He was found dead in his home on Saturday afternoon, February 18. The Blessed Peter Claver was born at Verdu in Catalonia in the year 1581, of parents eminent for piety and virtue, who instilled like qualities into his infant heart from the very cradle. One by one, the religious and the Negroes clasped his feet, which were giving off such a heavenly fragrance, and bathed them with their kisses. One poor prisoner, won to God by Father Claver, penned these pathetic words in his prayer book after receiving the death sentence: This book belongs to the happiest man in the world. Alphonsus intuited the capabilities of the young scholastic and saw in him a man fit for new, arduous and neglected work up to now unattended to, namely working among blacks in bondage. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! The startled priest, having been told the identity of the man kneeling before him, immediately lifted Father Claver up and dropping to his knees he likewise kissed the reverend feet of his predecessor with great emotion and confusion. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. The most illustrious of his many conversions was that of an English prelate and his Protestant confreres. Then he fell to his knees by her bed and prayed for an hour. Reports indicate that Medina was upset at O'Connell because he claimed he wasn't paid properl, Saint Christopher Prayer"Motorist's Prayer :" Grant me, O Lord, a steady hand and watchful eye, that no one shall be hurt as I pass by. The magnificent Main Altar is the result of a pledge made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph. Silently, with watery eyes, they picked up the saint and laid him to rest.Months later, a certain Mohammedan whom Father Claver had spent years trying to convert, walked into the Jesuit Church where the body of the saint lay in repose, and falling down before the Saints remains, shed tears of sorrow and promised to enter the true Church. Claver was less successful in his efforts to make converts among the Muslims who came to Cartagena to do business, but he managed to bring a number of Moors and Turks to the faith, though one held out for thirty years before succumbing, and even then a vision of our Lady was required to convince him. This was his city. Saint Melania, a wealthy Roman matron, freed her 8,000 slaves at once. Church of Saint Peter Claver is located in West Hartford Connecticut The two men conversed at length, discussing the Catholic position as opposed to the Protestant. It was reckoned that there would be a loss in each cargo by death during the six or seven weeks voyage of a least a third. Our Present . Those who were baptized looked beautiful and happy, while those who were not, looked ugly and were about to be gobbled up by hideous monsters from hell. He refused to be satisfied with a sloppy performance; each slave had to do it perfectly. It came very slowly. Absentee Line: (07) 3810 5950 During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 negroes. After assuring them that they were not going to be slain, he held up high the crucifix and told them of the God-man and what He had suffered for them. The Story of Saint Peter Claver, Apostle of Slaves A disciple of Saint Alphonse Rodriguez, Peter Claver became a slave of the slaves in order to take them to heaven. Of course, such lacks of concern meant a higher mortality rate, and consequently, lower profits; so, though such appalling cruelty did occur, it was not routine. very silent and reserved. The ship would then be loaded up with the extracted gold and silver and other new-world products destined for Spain. Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. At the end of the Masses, a group of distinguished men approached the casket. Cajeten Pereira Bishop House In total six people were killed including the priest and three nuns killed in road accident at Sumer. Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the Mother of God herself appeared to certain of the infidels to rebuke them for not listening to Father Claver. In this case, the dignitary was the governor himself, Don Jeronimo Zueso Cassola, the same man who raced to tell Father Claver the good news. And suffering is to sin what medicine is to sickness. Again at two oclock he would return after a scanty meal and a meditation. With him were the merchant and some curious companions. Our Saints upbringing carries nothing too spectacular about it. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Enclosed is a small donation in thanksgiving. There was hardly a Pope who had to face the problem when it surfaced after about a thousand-year dormation, that did not condemn it. He was an early Pioneer for Human Rites and showed. He prayed, slept, walked, labored, and preached in them for forty long years. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. The ceremony was initiated with a rosary then a mass blessing of the. Devil means divider. People were patriotic, but color of a mans skin was just that and nothing more. To protect themselves, the citys inhabitants, with the added muscle of the slaves, built huge sixty-foot-thick walls to repel such attacks. The young Jesuit petitioned his superiors to be sent to the missions of the West. They thought that their blood was going to be used to dye the ships sails, and that their fat to grease her keel. Again the gruesome routine began, washing their infections, kissing their sores, bandaging their wounds, even sweeping up their hovels. Cartagena was hit with five major epidemics during Clavers apostleship (1615-1654). 36 St Peter Claver by Shining Light Dolls on desktop and mobile. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Jesuit who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, Colombia and African Americans. How many souls in America might be sent to heaven by priests who are idle in Europe?. He was said to have the gift of prophecy as well as the ability to read souls. This steady concourse lasted until nightfall when the Fathers insisted on sending the people away and closing the doors. As his faithful friend and companion, Brother Nicholas, helped him into a bed, the saint moaned, This sickness is the reward for my sins. [in lingua hispanica] A. Valtierra, S.J., San Pedro Claver, Cartagena, 1964, pp. Near the confessional he also had holy books with pictures of the Passion, which he insisted that all the people ponder before they confessed. As the affable Jesuit ate and drank nd conversed with the delighted crew, the Englishmen, somewhat won over already by his manners, so contrary to what they had heard of Jesuits, requested that the priest meet their venerable archdeacon, who happened to have been captured along with them. The crude picture graphically portrayed the Crucified Christ with His Precious Blood pouring from His Wounds into a basin. They then sent him to Barcelona for his theology studies and after two years were, at his further request, chosen to represent the province of Aragon at the mission of Spanish Jesuits being sent to New Granada. Play Ep. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of this sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. sriverview@bne.catholic.edu.au College Phone Numbers. Saint Alphonsus was by occupation what Claver was by name. He obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. The women, in particular, would shed abundant tears while embracing each other in great joy. The good governor also told the fathers that the city was going to defray the cost of the obsequies by which the people of Cartagena planned to honor their most distinguished citizen. Then we sat, or rather knelt beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. With his familiar face no longer visible in the market and byways, people soon began to forget about the man they had so short a time ago nearly worshiped. Thus the ordeal of being captured by another tribe, sold to European merchants, transported through a horrendous middle passage and ultimately enslaved as a marketable object in the New World -- these were events that were a radical rupture of ones entire spirit, soul and universe. It was during these scourges that the holy mans heroic charity was such a spectacle for even the angels to behold. #Saint pf September 9 : St. Peter Claver a Miracle Worker and the Patron of #Racism, Slaves and #AfricanAmericans. Protestant confreres made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph Saints upbringing carries nothing too about..., with the help of a seraph on desktop and mobile superiors be! Baptized and instructed in the name of the Masses, a group distinguished! 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